Nervous
by Thunder Explosion
Summary: Natsu Dragneel was never the nervous type. Natsu and nervous just never fit together. However, all of that starts to change when he begins to realize his feelings for a certain bluenette water mage.
1. Chapter 1

Natsu was sitting at a table at a local outdoor cafe close to the sidewalk in Magnolia, where he and his trusty Exceed partner Happy were stopping for a quick bite to eat after their mission.

"Oh man, this really hits the spot after a long day, eh Happy?" Happy was munching on a fish while Natsu was currently picking up his steak with his hands and dipping it in steak sauce before munching on it.

"Aye sir!"

Just then, the two noticed a familiar blue-haired water mage approaching them. "Juvia?"

"Hello Natsu, Happy. Do you mind if Juvia joins you for dinner?"

Natsu sat there for a few seconds with a blank expression on his face before he answered her. "S-sure Juvia."

Juvia took a seat across from him at the table, running her hands across the front of her coat in order to straighten it.

The waitress approached her and asked what she would like to eat. "Just a salad and a glass of water is fine with Juvia." The waitress nodded and walked away. Juvia then looked at Natsu with a smile. "You sure have an interesting way of eating your steak."

"Well it saves the time of cutting it up and everything." He looked at his half eaten steak, then back to Juvia with a look like he had done something wrong. "It doesn't bother you, d-does it?"

"No not at all. When you say it like that it actually makes sense."

"R-really? T-thanks." Natsu looked shocked. Erza usually smacked him when he ate like this and Lucy would use her patented 'LUCY KICK' on him. 'This girl really is amazing' he thought.

The blue Exceed decided to pipe up. "Why are you blushing and stuttering so much Natsu?"

Natsu's head snapped toward him. "Shut up and eat your fish cat." Happy did as he was told and Juvia giggled at the exchange.

The water mage then spoke again. "Anyway, Juvia is glad that she found you. I've been waiting for you to get back all day."

"Huh? Why?" Natsu asked between mouthfuls of steak.

"Well I wanted to talk to you." Natsu dropped his steak. Juvia froze when Natsu did this, but continued when it became apparent that he wasn't going to say anything. "Juvia was just wondering if she did something to upset you. You hardly talk to Juvia at the guild anymore."

"No it's not like that Juvia, I swear."

"Well why don't you ever say anything to me anymore?"

Natsu froze again. He didn't know what to say. How was he supposed to say that she made him nervous? "Why do you constantly chase after Gray?" He covered his mouth with his hand as soon as he blurted the words out. "I'm sorry Juvia!" He then stood up and bolted from the cafe.

'What the hell was that about? Was he nervous?' the water mage mused.

Just then, the waitress came back out with Juvia's water and salad, as well as Natsu's bill.

"Really Natsu!" she yelled to herself as the waitress looked at her confused. "Don't worry, Juvia will cover it I suppose."

...

Natsu ran to the guild hall. After all, where else was he going to go. He opened the doors as calmly as he possibly could and stepped inside. He was greeted by several of his guildmates, which he waved back to. He walked to the bar that was currently being ran by Lisanna, who greeted him with her usual cheery smile. "Hi Natsu. What's up?"

"I need a drink. Something strong." He said this very quietly to her, and he gave her a shocked expression.

"Natsu, you almost never drink. And you look really shaken up. What's wrong?"

"Nothing" he replied quickly. Lisanna decided not to press the issue as she poured a dark liquid into a mug and set it on the counter in front of him before walking away.

Natsu started to drink as Mira walked over to him. "Hey Natsu. Did Juvia find you?"

"Yeah. Why?"

Mira noted the shakiness in his voice. "Well she was looking for you earlier. I was just curious what was going on."

"Oh" was all the dragonslayer said.

"Well aren't you gonna tell me? By the looks of it it wasn't anything good."

Natsu decided to duck her question. But before she walked away, he asked one of his own. "Mirajane, why do I feel so nervous around her?"

Mira looked shocked at what Natsu just said to her. "Well Natsu, maybe, you might like her?"

"Well of course I do. She's part of our family here!" he said it as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. Mira just facepalmed at his remark.

"That's not really what I meant."

Natsu sat at the bar for about five more minutes before he spotted Gajeel at a table sitting by himself as well. Figuring that maybe he could help with his predicament, Natsu approached his fellow dragonslayer.

"What do you want Salamander?" Gajeel asked while chomping on bits of iron.

Natsu looked at him for a moment before turning away. "Nevermind. Forget I even came over here." He tryed to walk away but Gajeel grabbed his arm.

"Now this is a sight I never thought I would see. The great Salamander of Fairy Tail nervous. Gihihi. Now sit down and tell me what's going on."

Meanwhile, at the bar, Lisanna was asking her older sister if she knew what was going on with Natsu while the two of them were cleaning glasses. "Well Lisanna, I think our little Natsu is finally realising that he has a crush on a certain someone in our guild." Mira explained to the younger takeover mage.

Lisanna looked at the table that Natsu was sitting at and noticed he still wore the same rattled expression he had when he came into the guild. "A crush?" Mira nodded. Lisanna looked back at Natsu. "Is it Gajeel?"

Mira laughed so hard she dropped the glass she was wiping, still laughing as it shattered.

"Well Gajeel," Natsu started "it's about Juvia."

Gajeel looked at the pink-haired man before a look of realization came over his face, before it turned into an earsplitting smile. "Ah, I get it now. You have a little thing for Fairy Tail's resident pneumonia."

Natsu blushed a deeper shade of red than his flames. "You know I'm swallowing my pride and asking you of all people for help. The least you could do is take me seriously!" he said with his voice rising.

"Chill out flame-brain. I am taking you seriously. But there really isn't anything more to it then that. Now I see why she's been saying that you've been acting weird lately."

"She was talking about me?" he asked quickly.

"I knew you liked her" Gajeel smirked. "But like I said, there really isn't anything more to it then that. Now all you have to do is be a man and ask her out."

"Natsu!" Gray, Lucy, and Erza all yelled when they spotted him, quickly running over to him.

"Where have you been?" Lucy asked.

Natsu scratched his head. "Well I went and ate dinner after we got back and then I came here."

It was Gray's turn to speak. "We have another job request. Lucy is still a little short on her rent so we were looking for you."

"We're leaving in a half hour. Meet us at the train station." Erza said to him.

Natsu shook his head. "Actually I have something else that I need to take care of. You can take care of this without me right." He stood up and flashed his trademark grin to his teammates.

"I suppose. But what's up with you all of a sudden?" Gray asked. "Usually you're all about fighting and food, and this job has both."

"Another time streaker. I have to go."

"Natsu you are not leaving until you tell us what's going on." Erza commanded.

"Sorry guys. I can't really explain right now. I just have something-"

"NATSU DRAGNEEL!" Juvia shouted through the guild hall as she slammed the front doors open. This drew the entire guild's attention on her. "What the hell is wrong with you?"

Natsu stared at her with a dumbstruck look on her face. He had never seen her this angry before, and honestly, she looked kind of cute. "Great job Salamander. You pissed her off big time" Gajeel mocked him from where he was sitting.

"Um, what's wrong Juvia?" the fire dragon asked meekly.

"What's wrong? Oh nothing much Natsu. Other then the fact that Juvia was stuck to pay your outrageous dinner bill because you were in too much of a hurry to get away from Juvia!"

Gray moved to take a step in between the two, figuring that the sight of him would be able to calm her down, but she shoved him out of the way. "What the hell Juvia?"

She ignored the ice wizard and continued to approach Natsu.

'Did she just shove Gray?' Lucy and Erza thought to each other as they exchanged a glance.

"I'm sorry Juvia." Natsu wore an ashamed look on his face. "I'll give you the money for the meal, okay?"

"Yeah, that's great and all but why did you run away from Juvia?"

'Wait, she isn't mad about being stuck with his dinner bill?' almost every member of the guild thought.

Natsu struggled to come up with an answer to her question, but a voice behind him broke him out of his trance. "Oh relax you big puddle." The voice was Gajeel's. "He just had to get here to tell me how nervous he gets around you. Gihihi."

Juvia looked stunned for a moment before returning her attention to Natsu. "But Natsu, why do you get nervous around Juvia?" the water mage asked him.

"Because I like you okay!" he blurted out, stunning all the onlookers.

"Nat-" she began to say, but was stopped when the salmon haired mage cupped her face and began to kiss her. It didn't last very long, only for a couple of seconds, but it was long enough to make Juvia melt on the spot. 'His lips are so warm' was the only thought that ran through her mind. She started to move back toward Natsu, so slowly that nobody even noticed.

"I'm sorry Juvia! Here's the money I owe you!" His voice snapped her out of her trance. He threw his wallet at the bluenette and proceeded to run out the guild doors.

"Heh. So much for being a man." Gajeel snorted under his breath.

...

**A/N: I originally planned for this to be a one-shot but this ended up being a lot longer than I thought so I decided to make it a couple of chapters long. I know a lot of people consider NaVia a crack pairing but it is definitely one of my favorites.**

**Anyway, I really hope you all enjoy this story. Please leave a review for anything you liked or anything that you think needs some work.**

**Disclaimer: Unfortunately, I do not own Fairy Tail. Although if I did it probably wouldn't be half as good as it is, so maybe that's a good thing.**


	2. Chapter 2

Natsu didn't really know where he was going at the time. The sun was starting to set on Magnolia and he let his feet lead him through the forest outside the city. He kept running and ended up at the little hut that he and Lisanna had built when they were kids. "Yeah, I guess this is a good spot to relax."

Natsu took a seat in the doorway of the hut and watched as the sun set. His thoughts began to wander on him, to the water mage and how he made an ass of himself in front of the guild, to how he was going to face the guild now that he'd done that, to Gajeel and Mira's advice, and the nights he spent out here in the hut. He remembered how much time him and Lisanna spent out here before she died, and the first time that she was with him after she came back from Edolas. Of course, Juvia was with her that night too.

"I guess that's when this mess really got started" his voice replied to his thoughts.

...

It was three weeks before the S-class trials and Natsu was training hard with his partner, Happy. It was getting late in the day and the two decided to take a break in front of the hut.

"Man Happy, I'm fired up about this trial. I'm gonna kick Erza's butt!"

"I don't know Natsu, everyone else is probably training a lot harder than you have been."

"Hey, what's that supposed to mean?" Both of them were shouting at this point.

Happy sighed. "I'm just saying that you're training to overpower Erza but what if you don't end up facing her?"

Natsu's confident look faltered for a minute, but quickly perked back up. "Well I can just melt the ice princess's magic, Lucy won't really be much of a threat so I'll have a one-on-one match with Cana, Mira can't stay in her Satan's Soul form for very long, I've beat Gajeel before, and I'll just beat Gildarts before he can get me."

"You know that's not everyone you have to worry about, right?" Happy sighed again. "Freed and Bickslow aren't going to be a walk in the park. We're not even sure what kind of magic Mest uses but he'll have Wendy's support magic by his side, and then you have Juvia's water magic. How do you expect to beat that?"

Natsu began to think, but then he heard a familiar voice snap him out of his thoughts in the distance. "Come on, I have to show you something!"

"Huh? Is that-"

"Lisanna!" Happy cried as he flew toward the approaching figure.

Lisanna went running toward the flying cat with her partner Juvia close behind her. "Hi Happy!" she cried, pulling the Exceed into an embrace. "Hey Natsu!"

Natsu grinned at his company. "Hey Lisanna! Hey Juvia!" Juvia nodded at the dragonslayer before he started yelling again. "Wait a minute! You guys can't be here! We're competing against each other!"

"Oh relax Natsu. Remember what I always used to say? You keep up that tough guy act and-" Lisanna stopped as she looked up past Natsu. "Is that- my grave?"

Natsu turned around to look at the headstone and gave her a nod. Lisanna had a small tear running from her eye as she wordlessly approached the stone, kneeling down in front of it.

Juvia took this moment to sit down and quietly question Natsu. "I thought Lisanna's grave was in the cemetery?"

"I built this one out here for her. She always loved watching the sun set from this spot and we were always out here as kids. I thought she would like it. Besides-" Natsu cut himself off, not wanting to remember the promise that he would build Lisanna's grave for her.

"Well Juvia thinks that was a very nice thing that you did that for her."

Lisanna, done with the slightly awkward moment of paying respects to her own grave, walked over to Juvia while still holding Happy in her arms. "Juvia, would you mind if we stayed out here tonight?"

"I suppose that's alright with Juvia. We are partners after all."

"Can we stay too? It'll be just like old times." Happy voiced his opinion on the situation. "Can we Natsu?"

Natsu looked at the Exceed and then at Lisanna. "Even if I didn't want to it's not like I could really say no, could I?" He then flashed his usual face-splitting smile.

'Natsu really goes out of his way for everyone in the guild. Everyone except me' Juvia thought, a frown appearing on her face.

"What's wrong Juvia?" Natsu's voice snapped her out of her thoughts.

"Nothing. Juvia is just thinking. That's all."

"I know what will cheer you up! Happy! Fly back to the house and get stuff for smores! We'll have a fire!"

"Aye sir!"

"You don't have to do all that for Juvia though. I don't want to be a burden." The water mage waved her hands in protest.

"You're not being a burden! Right Lisanna?"

The takeover mage directed her attention towards Juvia. "Natsu won't take no for an answer. Just relax and let him do his thing."

"Yeah. I'm gonna go grab some wood for a fire. You two just relax." Then he was off like a shot into the woods.

...

A couple of hours later, the sun had gone down and Lisanna had fallen asleep holding Happy tightly in her arms.

"Natsu, can you make Juvia another smore please? I don't wanna burn another one." Natsu laughed. Really hard. "Why are you laughing so much Natsu?"

"I just think it's funny that you're the water mage here yet you're the one burning the hell out of the marshmallows."

"Stop making fun of Juvia! You've burnt a lot of them too!"

Natsu laughed again. "That's because I meant to. I like them burnt." He proceeded to roar on the marshmallow he had, burning it completely black. Then he made another one for Juvia, roasting it to a perfect golden brown for her.

"Juvia thanks Natsu." She turned to him and smiled while making her smore.

They ate in silence for a couple of minutes before Natsu spoke again. "So do you and Lisanna wanna train with us for the next couple of weeks?"

Juvia stared at him puzzled. "But aren't we technically enemies for this competition?"

"Yeah, but I wanted to train against your magic. I figured training with a water mage would strengthen my fire!"

"So you just wanna use Juvia's magic to get stronger, huh? What's in it for me?"

"Well, I'll make you smores whenever you want and we can have more fires like this."

Juvia smiled, and for the first time, Natsu really took in the girl's beauty and her gorgeous smile. "Juvia would like that very much. Although Juvia can't be eating all these smores every night. She needs to watch her figure after all."

Natsu gave her a strange look. "Why? You're beautiful as it is. Why the hell do you need to watch your figure?"

Juvia wore a heavy blush on her face at the man's comment. "If you say so. Then okay, Juvia will train with Natsu." She then looked away from him. 'Juvia isn't that pretty, let alone beautiful. But I guess there's no point in starting a fight with him this late at night.

"Alright it's settled then." Natsu jumped up from his seat on the log. "Natsu and Juvia are gonna be the two strongest S-class mages in Fairy Tail!" Natsu was now talking rather loudly.

"Shhh." Juvia was now giggling at Natsu's antics while trying to pull him back down. "You're gonna wake them up!"

"Oh crap, I forgot they were over there. Anyway, I guess we're gonna have a long day of training ahead of us tomorrow, so we should probably go to bed." He began to walk over to his sleeping bag that he had set up earlier.

"Um, Natsu?"

"What is it Juvia?"

"Um-" Juvia stopped for a moment, looking rather nervous. "Do you mind if Juvia sleeps with you tonight? I get really cold when I sleep outside at night."

Natsu didn't really seem phased by her question as he simply opened the bag up wider so she would have room to get in. "Sure."

Juvia nodded at him and began to crawl into the bag with Natsu. She wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed her face into his chest while he placed an arm behind her back, bringing her closer to him. "Thank you. Good night Natsu."

"Goodnight. Juvia."

...

Natsu smiled at the memory. He still remembered what the girl felt like to this day. And her scent too. Oh my God she smelt like a mix between an ocean breeze and apple pie.

Those were a couple of things he didn't think he would forget as long as he lived.

Of course he also wasn't going to forget the rude awakening he got the next morning either.

...

"Well aren't you two just the cutest!"

Natsu and Juvia awoke and were both being stared at by a wide eyed Lisanna who was sporting an ear-splitting grin on her face.

"Morning Lisanna." Natsu said as both of them awoke, still very groggy. They made no move to get up right away.

"Come on Natsu, we have a lot of training to do, remember?" Natsu just made a growling noise and pulled himself closer to Juvia, who was still half asleep.

"Lisanna, do they like each other?" Happy asked. This got both of them to perk up instantly, shooting off the ground.

"WHAT?" they shouted in unision.

"I think so Happy. I mean, they're even speaking in unison now."

"Juvia does not feel that way about Natsu. Juvia was just really cold last night."

'Ouch. So I'm only a walking furnace to you then.' "You know Lisanna, you're acting like Mira more and more every day."

They got up that morning and began what would become their daily routine for the next three weeks. Lisanna would cook breakfast and Natsu would make a mess out of everything. They would go down to the lake and wash up, then begin practicing their magic.

Juvia would use the lake to her advantage to see how much power she could get behind her water magic while Natsu would try to use his fire to cut through her water magic. Lisanna would practice switching in between takeover forms as the situation would change, while Happy tried to knock trees over using his flying magic (needless to say he didn't have much success.)

"Be careful Happy. You'll get brain damage if you keep that up" Juvia called to the dazed Exceed.

"Don't worry about him" Natsu laughed. "He doesn't have much up there to worry about anyway."

"This coming from the most dense person in the guild" Lisanna teased him.

"Hey I am not dense!"

"Oh really? What does dense even mean Natsu?"

"Um, well.. Juvia help me out here!"

"Juvia doesn't wanna get involved in Natsu and Lisanna's fight."

"Yeah leave her out of this" Lisanna continued to mock him. "Besides you can't go running to your girlfriend every time you don't know something." She stuck her tongue out at Natsu.

"WE'RE NOT DATING!" they both shouted.

"But you did sleep together" a now recovered Happy pointed out.

"WHAT?" a few voices on the other side of the trees shouted out. After a couple of seconds, four figures stepped out and revealed themselves as Lucy, Cana, Gray, and Loke.

"Well I definitely didn't see that coming" Loke let out a knowing smile.

"Yeah me neither. I didn't think Natsu had it in him to notice a girl!"

"Gee, thanks a lot Cana." Natsu shook his head at his two friends. "But it's really not like that."

"Yes it's not like that Gray!" Juvia's outburst caught the entire group by surprise. "Juvia is so sorry she made you worry but you don't have to. Juvia will always remain faithful to Gray. Gray doesn't have to worry about love rivals anymore." Juvia then began to sob.

"Holy shit Juvia calm down! I'm not mad okay?" Gray tried reasoning with the water woman.

"We're gonna catch some fish and cook them up. If you all wanna stay you can." Natsu's voice carried a twinge of annoyance that was only noticed by Lisanna and Loke as they all grab fishing poles and Natsu started a campfire.

...

"I really enjoyed that day actually" Natsu said to the headstone that was sitting on the hill. "I remember doing a little victory dance in my head because that was the only time that she even mention Gray while we were together. I guess you were right, I really do like her."

Natsu sat in silence for a few moments staring at the grave. "Of course come trial time she was back all over Gray again. She even wanted him to spank her at one point." Natsu shook his head and laughed to himself. "Honestly I wanted to spank her a little bit. I guess that's why I let Erza play nurse on me after the trial too." Natsu laughed again. He couldn't believe some of the things he was saying right now.

"I still find it weird that even though you've been back for so long I still talk to your grave like this." He gave a sad smile toward the grave. "You are my best friend after all."

"Of course a lot happened between me and her since we came back from Tenrou Island too. I can tell you that too if you'd like."

And with that, Natsu continued to tell his stories of Juvia to Lisanna's headstone.

**A/N: Next chapter will be another look at some more of Natsu's flashbacks of his times with Juvia. And I got to throw some NaLi moments in here too. Don't worry though, this IS a NaVia story through and through.**

**Thank you all so much for the reviews, favorites, and follows! It means a lot to me that a lot of you enjoy this story so much. **

**I'm going to work really hard on getting the next chapter done as fast as possible, hopefully by Thursday night. But I have to work all weekend and I'm going up north Saturday night, so the rest of this story may take a little bit of time.**

**Anyway, I hope all of you enjoy this chapter and the rest of the story to come. Please review!**


	3. Chapter 3

Natsu still sat in front of the grave that he built for his best friend, slowly confessing to her and himself just how much he likes the water mage.

"Obviously things weren't so great after the return from Tenrou Island. Having seven years pass by you in the blink of an eye isn't easy for anyone. But I felt like I was making some progress with Juvia."

Natsu had a smile back on his face. "We started coming even closer to each other than we were during the time we trained together. We went out on a couple dates and she helped rebuild my ransacked house with me. We cooked each other dinner, and she even stayed over a few times. Don't worry, nothing like that happened though. We even managed to keep what we were doing a secret from most of the guild. In fact, I think you, Happy, and Loke were the only ones who even had a clue what was happening."

Natsu's face contorted to a look of pure rage and he clenched his jaw together. "Of course, that was all up until that bastard Lyon showed up."

...

It was your typical day at the guild. Everyone was being loud and obnoxious and continued to celebrate the return of their missing comrades even though they had been back for almost a month. Spending a few days improving on their shack of a guild hall left everyone in need of a day to unwind.

Natsu actually wasn't hanging out with Juvia at this time, for once since their return. Juvia was standing around with Lucy in the middle of the guild hall giggling about something. 'Must be girl talk or something.'

Honestly, with how much they had been hanging out lately, he was surprised that the rest of the guild hadn't picked up on his feelings for her. They were almost inseparable and always teasing each other. She also stopped stalking Gray for the most part, granted she would still drool at him when he would take off his clothes. So why weren't they together now?

Well, Natsu was sitting at the bar having a beer. Now normally, Natsu would almost never drink unless he was really worried or in a lot of emotional pain, which given his happy-go-lucky attitude was maybe twice in his life.

Well he was in pain, a lot of it. However, it had nothing to do with his emotions. No, it was more like he ended up picking another pointless fight with Gray and he ended up with a broken nose because he just so happened to set Erza's cake on fire. Oh how cautious of a dragonslayer he was.

"Well look at you gettin in the spirit you little stud! What is that, your sixth one?" Cana praised him for finally being able to enjoy a drink with her as she sat down at the bar.

Natsu gave a slightly slurred laugh at the guild drunk before turning his attention to the purple haired bar maid. "Hey Kinana, hit me up with my sixth please!"

"Sure thing, coming right up Natsu!" She poured the brown liquid into a glass mug and slid it to Natsu.

"Thanks Kinana!" He then turned his attention to Cana. "Nope, now it's my sixth."

They both toasted to each other and laughed. Now Natsu wasn't drunk by any means, but he did have a little happy buzz going. Enough to make him forget about his nose, anyway. He slid his hand inside the mug handle and began to drink.

And that's when the doors opened.

He looked over and immediately recognized the guys from Lamia Scale. They all basically said the same things, along the lines of happy to have you back and glad you're all safe. Natsu smiled at the comments, glad that they all showed the respect to come over here, and turned his back to them to continue to drink. And that's when he heard it.

"Is this love at first sight?" He knew it was Lyon but who the hell was he talking to? And then he heard Juvia let out a panicked YIP! 'That asshole really thinks he can take my woman?' Natsu started to boil.

"Hey man get your hands off of her!" Gray? What the hell did he think he was doing?

"Oh my! Juvia is caught in the middle of a love triangle!"

"Natsu, you looked pissed." Cana's voice broke his train of thought momentarily, but he didn't move.

"It won't be a love triangle if you just come back to Lamia Scale with me."

"She's not yours to take back Lyon!"

'And she's not yours to defend either, Gray.'

"Oh, come on Fullbuster. Don't you remember Ur teaching you to share your toys?"

The tension in the guild hall was broken by the sound of shattering glass. It turns out that Natsu had been gripping his glass so hard that he had snapped it into a hundred pieces. He turned to face the two ice mages with murder in his eyes. "She's not some toy that you can just pass around" he growled through grit teeth. He began to walk toward Lyon.

"Lighten up man, we're just having some fu-"

Natsu punched him right in the mouth.

Immediately Jura and Erza were checking on the man down while Gray and Gajeel were attempting to hold Natsu back.

When Natsu realized who had ahold of his left arm, he ripped his right arm away from Gajeel, kneed Gray in the gut to free his left arm, then delivered a swift hook with it.

Natsu looked at the two on the ground and began to walk toward the guild entrance shaking his head. However, he was stopped by Erza who grabbed his arm. "And just where do you think you're going now?"

Natsu actually entered his lightning flame dragon mode and ripped his arm away from Erza. "Don't. Touch. Me."

Natsu stayed away from the guild for the rest of the day, and when he came back the next day he was at the bar and belligerently drunk by noon.

"Jeez, yesterday it was a broken nose and now today it's a broken heart. I'm gonna turn you into a drinker yet Natsu." Cana said to the swaying dragonslayer.

Said dragonslayer gave her a disbelieving look. "So y'all figured out eh?" He then slammed his head onto the bar and left it there.

"Not all of us. In fact, me and Gajeel are the only ones who really figured it out. We convinced everyone your outburst was due to the booze mixing with your dragon mating hormones."

"Hah!" Natsu let out a yelp of a laugh before quieting his voice again. "If ya still count Sparky we had four us in this guild, and everyone believe that still stupid myth."

Cana sighed. "Yeah, well me, Gajeel, and that 'still stupid myth' saved your ass. So you're welcome!"

"Oh yeah, never did I thank you for that yet did I?" Natsu stood up and wrapped an arm around Cana's neck, pulling her into an embrace. "Alright. I'm out. Going to bed. You're more than welcome to join me if you want. It is my mating season after all." Natsu then gave her a wink.

"GO HOME YOU DRUNKEN PERVERT!"

"Gihi." And with that, Natsu stumbled out of the guild.

Sitting on Cana's other side, Gajeel spoke up. "Well at least everyone has probably forgotten about the Juvia incident by now."

"Yeah. And lucky for him Juvia wasn't here to see that."

...

A few days later, everything was back to normal when Natsu found a job request. The job was simply to catch a thief by the name of Velveno. Lucy was broke so she thought the job would be perfect too. But there was one catch. They heard that the thief would be at the magic ball that the client would be hosting on Saturday.

So they had to learn how to dance.

"Come on Natsu, take my hands." Lucy offered her hands out to him.

"Pain in the ass" he muttered under his breath as they began to dance. It went well for a little while, until Natsu decided to step on Lucy's foot.

"Ow Natsu!" she shouted, pushing him away.

"This looks like a fun game! Can I play?" Gray asked.

"Sure, as long as you don't step on me" was Lucy's reply.

Natsu wasn't so lucky. Erza decided to be the one to teach him how to dance. Now he knew why she was called the dancing demon. He was gonna be motion sick. Lisanna wasn't much better.

Natsu had finally managed to free himself from the chaotic scene unfolding in front of him. He began to walk over to the bench to rest when he saw Juvia sitting with Romeo, giving Gray and Lucy an evil stare.

'So she is still into him, huh?' Natsu thought. He approached her and held out his hand to her. "Do you wanna dance Juvia?"

Juvia snapped out of her trance and stared at him for a moment. "Sure, Natsu."

Natsu led her out into the middle of the lot. She put her left hand on his shoulder as he put his right on her waist. They joined their remaining hands and began to step to a beat. "Natsu is actually very good at this."

He grinned at her. "Well, Igneel actually taught me a lot about dancing and other social customs, so I guess that I remember some of it."

"Wow, Juvia never knew that dragons knew so much about that kind of thing."

"Yeah, dad taught me a lot more than just magic."

They danced in silence for a minute, enjoying each other's company for a minute, until Juvia spoke. "Thank you for the other day Natsu. That Lyon guy was really creepy. Although, did you have to punch Gray too?"

Natsu blushed at this. A lot. He then began to speak in a shy tone. "Well, uh, don't mention it. Like I said before, you're not some toy they can just pass around. Besides," he then regained his normal tone, "that stripper is the reason Erza broke my nose. I was looking for another reason to punch him." Juvia laughed at his reasoning. 'She's laughing? For me making fun of Gray?'

"Well Juvia thinks it was very sweet what you did. Juvia thanks you again." She then broke away from the dance. "Everyone is starting to go back inside so Juvia will as well. See you later Natsu." She smiled at him and he just about melted on the spot. He watched her walk back into the guild before Lisanna caught his gaze. She gave him a smirk and a wink before walking back in the guild herself. 'Yup. She's becoming more and more like Mira every day.'

Later that night, Lucy was getting ready for bed when she heard movement in her room. "Natsu! What are you doing here so late?"

"Actually, I need your help Luce."

Lucy's eyes widened a little bit. "Okay, with what?"

"Well really, I don't actually need YOUR help, I was just wondering if you could summon Loke. I wanted to talk to him."

"Oh, so you just want my magic then." Lucy looked irritated.

"Please?" Natsu whispered a beg.

"Alright fine. Open, Gate of the Lion, Loke."

"Well hello Princess," Loke appeared in his suit. "Need some assistance getting tucked in for bed?"

"Um, no," Lucy deadpanned. "Natsu wanted to talk to you."

"Can we go outside please?" Natsu asked the lion spirit. He then jumped out the window.

"Fine with me. See you in a bit Princess." And with that, Loke followed him out the window.

"Jeez, he's even got my spirits picking up his annoying habits." Lucy shook her head and decided to go to sleep.

"So what'd you wanna talk about Natsu?" Loke asked when they were a little ways from Lucy's apartment.

"Well, I'm having girl trouble. I figured you'd might know how to help me."

"Ah, so you finally admit to liking my master, huh?" Loke teased and Natsu shot him a death glare. "Relax dude, I'm just teasing you about it since that's what most of the guild thinks. It's Juvia, right?"

"Yeah. I'm still unsure if she feels the same way about me that I feel about her-"

Loke cut him off. "If you're unsure then make her feel the same way."

"What?"

"It's simple really. Girls like romantic stuff. They're swayed by romance. Juvia is no different. You're going to that ball on Saturday, right?" Natsu nodded. "Dress up nice, get her flowers, and ask her to be your date."

"You really think that'll work?" Natsu seemed skeptical. Loke nodded. "Alright then, I trust you. Do you have any more dress clothes?"

"I'll bring some from the Celestial World. I'll be back in a sec." Loke vanished into thin air and brought back a white suit with a sky blue dress shirt and a white tie. "Hope everything fits."

"Looks like it will." Natsu jumped into an alley and began to take his clothes off.

"Natsu what are you doing?"

"I'm changing!"

"I didn't mean you had to do it right now!"

"Why wait though?" Loke decided not to argue with him. He held the suit as Natsu grabbed pieces of it and got dressed. "Man, stripping and changing in public; I feel like Gray right now!"

Loke let out a loud laugh. "Glad I could help. Anyway, I'll bring your stuff back to your house. You can keep the suit for the dance."

"Alright, thanks Loke! I owe you one!"

"Don't sweat it Natsu. You've helped me out plenty of times." And with that, Loke went back to the Celestial world.

About a half hour later (it was only 10:00 at night now so Natsu had no idea why Lucy was going to bed so early) Natsu arrived at Fairy Hills in a white suit carrying a bouquet of roses. He walked into the lobby only to see Erza on the couch reading a book. He quickly hid the roses behind his back.

"Natsu? What are you doing here so late?" Erza asked him. "And why are you dressed like that?"

"Um, could you tell Juvia to come outside please?"

Erza looked at him for a moment. "May I ask why?"

"No."

"Natsu-"

"Please Erza?" Natsu was all but begging now.

She looked him over again. "Alright, fine. But make it quick!" she snapped.

She walked up the stairs and Natsu stepped outside. He waited about five minutes before he saw the door open. "What do you need Natsu?" Juvia asked him. She was wearing a blue tanktop that barely covered her stomach and white basketball shorts. She also had her hair down. 'My God she looks beautiful' Natsu thought to himself.

"Um, here. These are for you." He thrusted the bouquet at her. She looked up at him questioningly. "I was wondering if you wanted to be my date to the magic ball on Saturday?" Natsu was blushing furiously now, which wasn't hidden very well given the fact that he was wearing a white suit.

Juvia's questioning gaze broke into a smile. "Juvia's never had anyone ask her to a dance before. Of course she will." She grabbed the fire mage and pulled him into a hug. "Thank you for the flowers too. And you look really handsome!" She gave him a quick kiss on the cheek before breaking out of the embrace. "Goodnight Natsu!"

The dance itself was very uneventful up until the ring presentation. We all danced with random guests trying to spot the thief, and he eventually came out and took the ring.

He then gave some heartwarming speech about how he's always been in love with Aceto before proposing to her. All the girls gave oohs and ahhs and cheers when she accepted. Guess Loke knew what he was talking about when he said girls really go for romance.

All of the wizards from Fairy Tail grabbed their 'dates'; Lucy with said Loke, Erza grabbed Gray (good luck to him), and Elfman grabbed little Wendy and shouted something about a real man making kids happy. They all made their way to dance as Natsu did with Juvia. Juvia was wearing a simple sky blue dress that matched up well with his suit. It wasn't anything fancy, but Natsu had to use all his willpower to keep from drooling over her.

He looked across the room at all his friends and his eyes met with Loke as Juvia and him danced. 'Keep cool' Loke mouthed. He gave a smirk and turned to focus on Lucy.

"That was so romantic. I hope someone proposes to me like that one day." She had a dreamy look in her eyes, as Natsu was sure her imagination was running wild on her.

"You mean you want them to break out of prison?" Natsu teased.

Juvia thought for a moment. "Okay, well maybe not exactly like that" she laughed.

They danced, their eyes never leaving each other.

"Juvia, I-" Natsu wanted to say it but he couldn't. The words wouldn't come out. 'Come on brain just let me say it!'

This wasn't nervousness though. What was this. He knew this feeling. He knew it way too well.

Uh oh.

"Natsu what's wrong?"

"Wendy's..Troia spell. It's.. wearing off.. blegh." Natsu fell on the ground and began to hurl on the edge of the stage.

At that moment, he knew what just happened.

He blew his chance.

...

The sun was almost completely out of the sky as Natsu continued to sit in front of the grave. He wiped a tear from his eye, trying to forget all the things he just remembered.

"I'm gonna go home" he said to himself. "Maybe I'll take a really long job or something tomorrow so I won't have to be at the guild for a while."

He stood up as he began to walk away from the hillside. Before he turned around though, he heard a voice behind him.

"I thought we'd be able to find you out here."

...

**A/N: Mini cliffhanger gihi. Next chapter is back to the present time. Also, I'm thinking two more chapters for this story.**

**During the fight with Sting and Rogue, I laughed way too hard when Natsu did Gajeel's little laugh when he shoved Gajeel down the mine shaft, so I had to make him do it.**

**THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH FOR READING AND REVIEWING! I GOT OUT OF WORK LAST NIGHT AND CHECKED THIS STORY AND I STARTED JUMPING UP AND DOWN LIKE A LITTLE DAMN SCHOOLGIRL! YOU'RE ALL AWESOME! **

**Ahem. Anyway, please review. NaVia for the win!**

**Okay I'm done now. Bye!**


	4. Chapter 4

"I thought we'd be able to find you out here."

Natsu turned his head toward the voice. "Gajeel?" He looked at the figures that approached him, and from his left to right stood Gajeel, Gray, Lisanna, Cana, and Loke. "What are you guys doing out here?"

"Aww, Natsu, we were wor-"

"Don't be all nice with him Lisanna. Get your ass over to Juvia's now Salamander or I'll beat you to a pulp!"

"Gajeel's right Natsu" Cana started up. "Why would you start something you can't finish, huh? That's not the Natsu we all know and love!"

Loke took over. "Natsu you know I told you to do way better than that. Keep your cool and you decided to blow eveything up!"

Gray decided to finish their little group speech. "The Natsu I know is always charging in looking for a fight or a challenge. Now all of a sudden he finds himself cowering like some chickenshit over some girl? Damnit Natsu, go and take what's yours!"

Natsu looked at everyone, stunned at all the words that his friends just said to him. He then turned his attention to Gray. "I figured you would just come out here to gloat that you won if anything."

"Actually I have something to tell you." Natsu looked at his rival, shocked. "About two weeks after we got back from Tenrou, Juvia came to talk to me."

"Okay?"

"She came to talk to me about you flame brain!" Natsu's eyes about bugged out of his head. "She basically told me that she was gonna act like she was still madly in love with me because she didn't wanna drop any bombshells in the guild by revealing her feelings for you."

"Gajeel and I covered for you both after the incident with Lyon" Cana told him.

"I made sure my master still had a little cush on you, and even made up a couple of stories to some of the guild members since you haven't been to her place in a month" Loke contributed.

Lisanna smiled. "I knew you two were going to make a cute couple from the first night you spent together. I even gave Mira a few false crush rumors about you so you two wouldn't have her meddling." She smiled and winked again.

Cana then shook her head. "Of course, all our efforts kind of went out the window when you decided to shove your tongue down her throat in front of the whole guild."

Natsu looked like he had been hit by a truck with all this information. He was also blushing heavily at the memory of him kissing Juvia. He wanted to do that again. "Alright I'm goin to find her!" Natsu jumped up and started to take off running.

Cana grabbed him by the back of his shirt. "Hold up fireball. Do you even know where she is right now?"

"I can smell her! I'll find her in no time!" The entire group minus Gajeel sweatdropped at this.

"Well we can make it a little easier for you" Lisanna said. "She said, 'Juvia will be going back to Fairy Hills now so if Lisanna finds Natsu tell Natsu to meet Juvia here.'" Lisanna closed her eyes, stuck her neck up, and pointed a finger in the air. "Or something like that."

"Great! Fairy Hills! Got it! Bye!" Natsu was off again.

"That's a real dragonslayer right there. Taking what he wants!" Gajeel yelled as the group stood in front of the grave.

"Oh really?" Cana asked. "That's what a true dragonslayer does?"

"Then why haven't you asked Levy out yet?" Gray questioned. Gajeel's eyes widened and a blush crept it's way onto his tin can face.

"I think Gajeel is intimiated by the shrimp" Loke reasoned.

"What? I'm not Salamander!"

"If you want" Lisanna started, "we can play matchmaker for you too."

Gajeel looked mortified. "Hell no! No no no! Fuck! That!" However, his cries fell on deaf ears as the other four looked at each other with evil grins. Then they all turned to look at Gajeel at the same time. "Gihihi" and the group was gone.

"HEY WAIT A SECOND!"

...

The moon was out now and the night sky was clear, creating a type of otherworldly glow on the land. Natsu's nose led him slightly past the Fairy Hills dorm and down to the beach below. He saw Juvia sitting on the beach with her feet out into the water.

"Natsu, why did you wait so long to tell Juvia how you feel?" Juvia's voice broke him out of his trance. He wasn't expecting her to speak first. She still wasn't looking at him though.

Natsu walked over to Juvia and extended his hand to her. She took it and stood up facing him. They both stood with their feet in the water.

Natsu took a deep breath and exhaled. "Juvia, I've never been in love before. I didn't know what to expect from it." The air vanished from Juvia's lungs as Natsu continued. "All the time we spent together, all the dates, the laughs, watching you smile, I was never able to place what those feelings were. But now I know. Those feelings only come when you love someone, and I have all those feelings when I'm around you. I love hearing you laugh, watching you smile, when you tease me, I hate seeing you in pain, and no matter how many times I see you I still get these nervous butterflies in my stomach. I love you Juvia Lockser."

Rain started to come down as tears were welling in Juvia's eyes. Natsu knew this rain, the rain that was caused by Juvia's magic. But this rain felt different somehow. Usually the magic rain she gives off feels cold and dead, but this rain was warm. This rain felt like each drop had its own life to it. With tears still in her eyes, she let out the biggest smile Natsu had ever seen. "I love you too, Natsu Dragneel."

And they began to kiss in the rain.

...

Natsu Dragneel had the biggest shit eating on his face as he threw the doors open to the guild the next morning. "Good morning everyone!"

He heard welcoming cries and good afternoon cries as he made his way to the bar. "Two glasses of orange juice please Mira."

The barmaid nodded and went to fetch the drinks. He turned his attention toward his teammates. "You know it's one o'clock right?" Lucy asked.

Natsu shrugged. "I had a late night last night."

"Yeah, I bet you did." Gray and Lisanna both winked at him.

Natsu just laughed. "Oh relax, it was nothing like that."

Lucy, feeling awkward at the dirty innuendos, decided to change the subject. "Well Natsu, we decided to not go on that job yesterday, so we were wondering if you wanted to do one today?"

"Sorry, but I think I'm gonna go on a job with my girlfriend today" was his reply.

"WHAT?" Lucy and Erza shouted.

"So it did work out. Congrats Natsu." This came from Lisanna.

"I guess you didn't have to keep cool after all."

"LOKE WHEN DID YOU GET HERE?"

"Natsu has a girlfriend now? Is it who I think it is?" Mira asked.

At this, the source to all their questions slammed the entrance open and came sauntering into the guild hall. "Juvia wishes everyone a good morning!" She was greeted the same as Natsu. She walked over to said fire mage and draped her arms around his neck. "Well hello Natsu."

"Hey Juvia. I got you orange juice already for when you got here."

"Aww, Natsu is just the sweetest boyfriend ever!" she said to him as she sat down next to him and locked their hands together.

Most of the guild was still in shock from what happened yesterday to believe this turn of events. But after the initial shock was over, the guild burst into cheers. "This calls for a round of drinks!" Cana shouted.

Erza jumped in front of Natsu with stars in her eyes. "So tell me how it happened! You know I love a good romance story!" Her voice sounded like a kid in a candy shop.

Natsu still wore his shit eating grin. "Well let's just say a dragonslayer takes what he wants."

"Damn you Salamander" Gajeel growled. "Hey shrimp, come here!" he hollered as he stood up and walked over to her. She got up and met him in the middle of the floor. He then proceeded to grab her by the waist and smash his lips into hers, and she returned the favor. "Don't expect me to be some sweetheart like flamebrain over there and by you orange juice though" he told her when they broke the kiss.

"Good, cause no one's asking you to!" she shouted. They turned away and crossed their arms over their chests, only to turn around and start making out again five seconds later.

Natsu started laughing. "It'll take a lot more than that to show me up tin can!" He then stood up and whirled Juvia up onto the bar.

"Natsu, what are you-" she was cut off by the fire dragon's lips on hers, displaying their affection for the whole guild to see. Natsu pulled away from her and looked over to Gajeel, who had also pulled away from Levy.

"Gihihi." Natsu mocked Gajeel's laugh and they both went back to displaying their affection toward their respective blunettes.

"Natsu's always loved a good competition, hasn't he?" Lisanna voiced.

"That's for damn sure." Gray then let out a quiet laugh.

"YAY! HAPPY ENDINGS FOR EVERYBODY!" Mira shouted from the bar, leading the guild in a volume of cheering.

"I love you Natsu."

"I love you too Juvia."

**...**

**A/N: annnd scene! That's all for this story folks! But don't worry, I'm working on a lot more right now. I've got four more stories that should start being uploaded within the next couple of days, so check them out for me ;)**

**I love all my reviewers and everyone who favorites and followed this story! It means the world to me and I hope everyone is satisfied with the ending.**

**Well, until next time, this is Thunder Explosion signing off!**


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